Musical instrument



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MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Feb. l, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. IRVING AMES ATTORNEYS.

Nav. l5, 1949 l. AMES 2,488,111

MUS ICAL INS TRUMENT Filed Feb. 1, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 V Q2 l I1 Q l Ln..

FIG. 2.

INVENTOR.

IRVING AMES i I l BY s@ MW- ,m YW

ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 15, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to musical instruments. More particularly, it relates to automatic musical instruments useful for the entertainment of adults and children and to the composer in arranging the timing and sequences of musical notes.

It is an object of this invention to provide a musical instrument for the production of musical tones in which the arrangement and timing of the notes may be quickly and conveniently changed.

It is a further object to provide a musical instrument for automatically producing a series of tones in accordance with the positioning of movable actuating elements. It is another object to provide such a structure in which the mechanism is actuated entirely by gravitational force elimihating the need for any external power connections.

It is still another object to provide such a musical instrument which is simple, sturdy and inexpensive and which may be readily constructed with ordinary production apparatus and methods.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements,

and arrangements of parts as will be exemplied in the structure to be hereinafter indicated and the scope of the application of which will be set forth in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of this invention:

Figure l is a plan view of one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective View of a segment of the record portion with four removable projection pins positioned thereon;

Figure 4 is a perspective View of a segment of the template used in positioning the pins shown in Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 2 showing the arrangement of hammers relative to one of the sound generating members.

The musical instrument is mounted in and supported by a suitable structure 2 of wood or other material and is indicated in cross section in Figures l and 2. Two metal rods 4 and 6, for 1 i supporting tuned resonant pipes 8 are mounted transversely of the structure 2 and secured thereto at each end. The musical notes are produced by striking pipes 8, which are constructed from brass or steel tubing of the various lengths suit- 55 able for producing the desired tones. These pipes are supported near each end by short lengths of cord l2 attached to rods 4 and 6. Three hammers, for example, those generally indicated at I4, I6 and I8, are associated with each resonant pipe and are individually adapted to strike the pipes with a suitable blow to produce the desired tone. The arm portions 22, 24 and 2B of these hammers are of respectively increasing length and are formed from strips of phosphor bronze or other resilient material. Hammer portions 28, 32 and 34 are attached to, and extend downwardly from, the forward end of the respective arm portions. Each arm portion is pivotally mounted, as at 36, on a supporting shaft 38. When the striking arm is stationary it is retained in the horizontal position, with the head portions slightly above the resonant pipe, by a cross member 42 as shown in Figure 2.

The individual hammers are automatically actuated by a player board, generally indicated at 44, which has a back portion 46 of relatively sturdy metal or other suitable material. The bottom and two side edges of the back portion are formed into a forwardly extending U-shaped channel, as at 48. A flat sheet 52 of metal, wood, plastic or other suitable material, is retained within the channel portion but may readily be removed by sliding it upwardly along back portion 46 toward the end having no forwardly projecting portion.

The surface of sheet 52 is provided with columns of vertically aligned openings (Figure 3) which are adapted to receive projection pins 56.

Ordinary round head rivets have been successfully used as projection pins, or if desired, suitably shaped metal, plastic or Wooden pins may be specially fabricated. rlhe projection pins are inserted in the appropriate openings in sheet 52 which is then mounted adjacent the back portion 46 which presses forwardly against the heads of the projection pins anchoring them firmly in place and causing sheet 52 to remain in rm contact with the forward edges of channel 48. Two rollers 58 are mounted on opposite sides of structure 2 and are provided with recessed face portions into which the outside of channel 48 rits. The rollers 58 thussupport player board 44 in a vertical position while permitting it to move downwardly between them. A vertical strip 62 is secured to back 46 and is adapted to move vertically between a metal guide roller 64 and a cushioned pressure roller 66, which is secured to a shaft 68 rotatably supported by the structure 2. Shaft 68 is suitably coupled to a timing mechanism indicated diagrammatically at 12. This timing mechanism (details not shown) may be any suitable timing arrangement such as an escapement, or hydraulically or pneumatically operated mechanism; in any case, its function is to restrict and control the rate of descent of the player board 44, which in the present embodiment is propelled downwardly by the force of gravity.

In operation, the player board 44 with pins 58 projecting through suitable openings in sheet 52 is placed in a vertical position at the top of the instrument with the external portions of channel 48 aligned between the faces of rollers 58 and the vertical projection 62 in place between rollers 64 and 68. When the board 44 is released it moves, by gravity, downwardly through the machine, the rate of descent being controlled by the timing mechanism 12. It is readily seen that as the board descends the projection pins in each particular vertical column will actuate a particv,

ular hammer, lifting it upwardly and subsequently releasing it, causing it to strike a particular pipe to produce the corresponding tone. As a particular pin reaches the associated striking arm it carries with it the rear portion of the arm causing the arm to pivot in a counter-clockwise direction about shaft 38 lifting the head portion upwardly above pipe 8. At a lower point the pin releases the arm, permitting the head portion to fall downwardly which, because of the resilency of the arm portion, continues its downward direction striking the tone generating pipe 8 a single blow after which it is caused to remain in its usual position above the pipe, by rod 42, until actuated by a downwardly moving pin.

It is to be noted that the length of the lever arm between pivot 36 and the head portion of the striking arm is diierent for each of the three striking arms associated with a particular pipe 8. This difference in length may cause no difficulty for certain applications, 'but in precision instruments itis desirable that the length of the respective heads, or their weights, be correspondingly modied so that each of the three hammers striking the same pipe will produce an identical tone. These different lengths are accordingly shown in Figure 2.

It is to be noted that if two projection pins were placed in adjacent vertically aligned openings that the arm portion upon being released by the lower pin would strike the adjacent pin above it and thus have its motion arrested by the adjacent pin rather than by rod 42 as is desired. However, it is often desirable in playing certain selections to strike the same note several times in relatively rapid succession. This is accomplished by providing multiple hammers for striking lthe same note; thus there are three vertical columns of openings in sheet 52 in which pins may be placed to strike the same note. The segment of the player board shown in Figure 3 illustrates four projection pins, A, B, C, and D, arranged to play the same note four times in rapid succession. The board is assumed to move downwardly through the machine in the direction indicated by the arrow. Pin A would actuate arm I8, followed immediately by pin B actuating arm I4, and pin C actuating arm I8, by which time arm i3 would have returned to its original position to be again actuated -by pin D. Thus by arranging the projection pins in the manner indicated in Figure 3 the same note may be repeated rapidly any desired number of times. If desired, other eiects may be obtained by actuating two or more striking arms simultaneously.

In order -to assist in the placing of the projection pins in the proper openings, a paper or cardboard template 14 having openings 16 arranged to correspond with the particular melody desired, may be employed. A segment of such a template is shown in Figure 4 with openings suitably placed for inserting the pins in the arrangement shown in Figure 3.

From the foregoing it will be observed that the musical instrument embodying my invention is well adapted to attain the ends and objects hereinbefore set forth and to be economically manufactured, since the separate features are well suited to common production methods and are subject to a variety of modifications as may be desirable in adapting the invention to different applications.

As many possible embodiments may be made of the above invention and as many changes might be made in the embodiment set forth, it is to be understood that all matter hereinbefore set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limited sense.

I claim:

l. In a gravity operated musical instrument, the combination, comprising: a supporting structure; a board having a planar surface with a plurality of columns of vertically aligned openings therein; a plurality of pins adapted to be releasably tted into said openings and to form projections on said surface; a guiding track supported by said structure and adapted to maintain said board in an upright position and permit it to be drawn downwardly by gravity therealong; a plurality of sound generating members supported by said structure; and a plurality of hammers pivoted on said structure, each of said hammers being adapted to be actuated to strike one of said tone generating members by the pins in a particular column of openings, whereby said pins may be inserted in selected openings in said board and the board permitted to travel downwardly along said tracks, the pins actuating the appropriate hammers in time sequence to produce the particular melody represented by the placement of the pins.

2. An automatic musical instrument, comprising: a supporting structure; a player board having a planar surface and detachable pin projections affixed thereto; a guiding track mounted on said structure and adapted to hold said board in an upright position and permit it to move vertically downward therealong; timing means adapted to control the downward speed of said board along said track; a plurality of tone generating members supported by said structure; and a plurality of striking arms each having a resilient arm portion and a hammer portion and pivotally mounted on said structure, each of said striking arms being adapted to strike one of said tone generating members to produce a tone when actuated by one of said pin projections as it passes the position of the striking arm, at least two of said striking arms being operatively associated with each of said tone generating members, whereby a particular sequence of tones may be produced in accordance with the particular arrangement of projections 5 ing a cylindrically shaped body portion and a head REFERENCES CITED portion larger in diameter than said body portion, said body portion being adapted to pass through m51? llgwit rferens are of record in the the perforations in said sheet, whereby said pins p n may be arranged in various patterns in said sheet, 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS the body portions extending on one side of said sheet and the head portions extending on the op- Nugle Irelr'ne Augnelggo posite side; and a backing sheet adapted to be re- 358157 Kenyon Feb' 22 1887 leasably clamped against the head portions of said pins to retain said pins firmly in place in said 10 FOREIGN PATENTS perforated sheet. Number Count ry Date IRVING AMES- 25,006 Austria July 25,1906 

